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4 Wounded in Rock Falls, IL, Bar Shooting, Suspect Still at Large

April 16, 2017

ROCK FALLS – The Rock Falls Police Department is seeking the public’s help in identifying a young white man armed with a handgun who walked into The Cooler around 9:30 p.m.

Saturday and started shooting, injuring four people before fleeing in a blue pickup.

The man uttered some sort of epitaph before firing, apparently randomly, Police Chief Tammy Nelson said early Sunday morning.

Two of the four victims, who Nelson thought all were men, were in surgery around 1 a.m., and all injuries appeared to be non-life-threatening, she said.

None of the patrons at the bar at 311 W. Second St. knew who he was, the chief said.

Police posted photos of the man on the department’s Facebook page about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. He is a young white man with short hair, white or khaki shorts and a blue shirt. He drove off in a blue pickup with a gray toolbox, witnesses said.

Rock Falls police called on the Illinois State Police Crime Scene Unit to gather evidence; the department will take the lead in the investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to call Rock Falls police at 815-622-1140 or Whiteside County Crime Stoppers at 877-625-7867.

This is the first multiple shooting in Rock Falls since Jan. 4. 2014, when Leonard “Frank” Harris Jr., 40, shot and killed Fredrick A. Michels, 34, outside Froggy’s (then Lamb’s Tap), 215 W. Second St., just after 12:30 a.m., injured two others, then killed himself a home in Sterling.

That fight started as a verbal altercation that turned physical. All four were from Sterling.